Welcome to this blog which it is hoped will contribute to the development of evidence based educational leadership and management

Friday, 26 February 2016

Evidence-Based Practice : A Handbook for teachers and school leaders

If you are a school research lead or interested in evidence-based practice, then this post is for you.

Over the last 18 months I have had the opportunity to read, reflect and write about evidence-based practice and education. The more and more I have read about the application of evidence-based practice to schools, the more it has become clear that there are a number of common misconceptions about evidence-informed practice in circulation. In part these misconceptions are the product of a significant body of academic literature and research on evidence-based practice which appears not to be known to many members of the ‘educational academy’ and is resulting in ill-informed discussion and debate about the merits of evidence-based practice. In particular, many commentators on evidence—informed practice have very little detailed awareness of the work being undertaken in the fields of evidence-based medicine and evidence-based management.With that in mind, I have produced an amended version of the Center for Evidence-Based Management’s booklet “Evidence-Based Management, The Basic Principles”. The booklet written by Denise Rousseau, Rob Briner and Eric Barends, was originally written as a general guide to the principles of evidence-based practice. I have amended the handbook – with the authors’ permission – so the case-studies and examples used, will be more relevant to a school-based audience. As such, the handbook covers basic questions such as “What is EBP?”, “What counts as evidence?”, “Why do we need EBP?”, “What sources of evidence should be considered?”, “Why do we have to critically appraise evidence?” and “What is the evidence for EBP?”.

Evidence Based Practice : A handbook for teachers and school leaders

About the author

Dr Gary Jones, @DrGaryJones, worked in post-compulsory education for over 25 years. Gary has a doctorate in educational management from the University of Bristol and is interested in evidence-based practice and the implications for school leadership and management. Gary is a Fellow of the Center for Evidence-Based Management and associate of the Expansive Education Network based at the University of Winchester, where he supports teachers engage in evidence-based practice. Gary is also involved in a research project investigating school research leads use of research evidence. Over the last last two years Gary has spoken at a range of conferences including ResearchED Sydney, Cambridge, New York, Glasgow and Goteborg. Gary has also spoken at conferences organised by UKFEchat, the Canons Park Teaching School Alliance and the Expansive Education Network.